The Nightstand Project

Nightstand - Before

Drawers primed. 

Diamonds measured & drawn as perfectly as I could make them.

Taped off and spray painted Cream

Pulling the tape off the diamonds...

Re-taping the outline so I can hand paint the detail...

All done... Well... Almost!

Antique Gold vs. Gold

 Time to re-tape for more detailing...

And you actually thought I was going to let you see the after already!?
 I have to keep some surprises for the final Bedroom reveal!

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Up-cycled Napkins

In June I did a tutorial on up-cycling a vintage/antique linen into the pincushion on a Mason Jar sewing kit... but I never said what I did with the beautiful lace cornered scraps from the linen.

 

Well, I turned them into pretty little napkins! When I made the sewing kit, all I did was cut the "P" out of an antique monogrammed linen. When I was finished, I had a near-perfect condition linen - with a 4x4 square cut out of its center - left over... and beautiful lace trim on it's corners!

To make the napkins, all I had to do now was to cut off the excess center strip (an act I didn't feel bad about because it was slightly damaged with moth holes anyways), roll and pin the hem...

... and stitch them on just ONE side. It only took me about 30 minutes to trim, pin, and hem both scraps.

It was SOOOOOOOOOOOO simple, and I got beautiful napkins without wasting a thing!

What have you up-cycled lately?

-- A Victorian Cowgirl <3

What would a girl be...

Without a pair of fabulous looking shoes?!

Perfect for those going to a ball, or who just like the style in general. Hop on over to American Duchess' shop, and buy yourself a lovely new pair!

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

For my first set of stays; My true love gave to me...

2 yards of muslin, and a new, working sewing machine ;)

When I was in Colorado visiting my fathers parents, my parents went to visit my mothers father for Thanksgiving and he sent two of my granny's sewing machines and a Serger home to me! Thank you Papaw!!!

 I really want to try and make a Georgian dress but need stays for that, even more than I do for my Regency dresses. I looked through my stash of patterns and found this one from McCall's. I am making it out of a plain white muslin, and eyelet's instead of grommets for lacing (since I am HORRIBLE at putting in grommets). I am almost done (but for attaching lining to corset once the boning is in). While waiting on the chance to get my boning, I  have decided that I will add a little decorative touch to one or two of the front panels. I started earlier today on the embroidery and will post a pic as soon as I have one. Though I fear my stitches are always very poor I think it will be all the more lovely knowing that I did it with my own hand, and hopefully one of my children can enjoy my toils many years from now when it gets passed down from myself to some dear little girl... 

If you have any tips for corsetry (yes, it's a "new" word :P), please share them if you can spare a moment here. I am very new to this, and though I am using a modern pattern for my stays this time, I hope to learn from it and make a set of 18th Century stays somewhere in the near future. (Hopefully with the help of your tips, and also a little guidance from the quick hands of my dear friend Laura at Tryon Palace...)

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Party Dresses for the New Year...

Or at least, my picks for the season :D I hope you are all having a Beautiful week, and enjoy my little ditherings here... 

First, we have a lovely RED dress. It's Vivienne Westwood's "Hybrid". The color is good (for me at least...), and the fabric looks really flattering the way it's gathered and draped. 

You can find it here. 

Next, we have a gown that I think would look absolutely lovely on. 

It's Lanvin's Asymmetrical Washed Silk Gown. 

You can find it here at Net-A-Porter.com. Isn't it a dream?!? I LOVE the color, and the draping... like a Grecian Goddess... and I bet it makes you feel that way too. My only hiccup here is the flower... though I'm sure anyone who wears it is more than capable of pulling it off.

My next choice is a bit more glam, and perhaps more "hip" (and SHORTER) than I'm used to. But, I like it anyways! 

The nipped waist is very figure flattering, and the asymmetrical bottom adds intrigue to the style, and an extra appeal to the legs... now, as I think this would be too short to wear with my "mile long" legs, I would wear opaque tights, and black (or perhaps red or blue) velvet/suede pumps :D Unfortunately I can't remember where I found it, but if you happen to stumble across a link can you please share? 

Here, we have a nice LBD. 

Gotta love the Sparkle factor... it's enough to make any woman fall in love, whether she'd actually wear it or not. I'm not one to normally go after sparkles and sequins... but I am starting to realize how much I like them, and trying to make sure I at least try them every now and again :) The velvet belt is lovely in contrast, and helps to break up all the splashy sequins... 

Unfortunately this is another one I can't remember the link for :( Be sure to leave a comment though if you find it, please!

What styles have you fallen in love with over the start of the New Year? 

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

My Christmas Present from Sophia :)

I am leaving Colorado in a few days to return home to NC and be back with my family. So my friend, Sophia, and I decided to give presents early :) I decided to get her a present from her favorite store, Charlotte Russe... and apparently so did she for mine... lol. Unfortunately I can only find the link for the necklace I got her: http://www.charlotterusse.com .

I had gotten her a pair of earrings too, but I can't find them :'(

And here is my present from her:

Isn't it lovely?!?!

 Here's a close-up :D

Have you gotten any special presents yet this year?? Do you think you will?? :) 

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Thank you .. Graphics Fairy?!?!

LOL... but seriously... Thank you Karen!! :D I found this silhouette on your blog and saved, shrunk, and played with it via picnik. I had a lot of fun, even if I didn't do much to change it.

Union Station Rocks...

My friend saw the HUGE RED PUMP and decided it was the perfect pic for to email me.

Union Station

The lovely HUGE red pump

Would make a great slide for fashion loving girls...

From across the way...

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

A Vote for Kate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please stop by Kate's blog, see her stuff, fall in love, and vote here for her :D It's so worth the trip!! She will definitely appreciate the votes I'm sure....

(photo courtesy of Kate's blog)

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Giveaway at my mom's blog :)

My momma is giving away an organization ebook over at her blog so I thought I would share with my friends over here. Hop on over and leave a comment at her post to enter to win :)

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Hand Sewing & Weekend Plans

Folkwear Sewing Patterns, Edwardian Underthings

I have been wanting to practice my hand sewing for a while. I found this pattern in a box in my closet along with a huge stash of patterns that a friend from church had given me. I had completely forgotten that I had them :) I thought the Edwardian underthings pattern was the perfect thing to practice with because the fabric is lightweight and the stitching is delicate.

My first day of sewing did not go so well, even though I sewed for about 9 hours straight. I am OK at keeping my stitches small, but I have a problem with keeping them straight. And, to top it all off, I discovered at the end of the evening that I had actually sewed the lace insets into two right sides instead of a left and a right. I have to very carefully detach the lace from the second piece because I do not have enough of it to make two sets! 

I am spending the next few days with my mom at a démodé fashion weekend sponsored by one of our favorite local historic sites, Tryon Palace. The weekend will be full of 18th century fashion!! I met the young lady, Laura Poppe, who is the seamstress for the Palace, this past weekend at another event. She is very sweet and knowledgeable, plus I learned she is a fellow homeschool graduate! I can't wait to take part in all the activities this weekend and learn more! I hope to take lots of pictures to share with you next week.

J'espère que vous avez un bon week-end!

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Sweet Little Dress Photo's

Here is the process of making my little dress. The lighting wasn't super fantastic because I took them in the morning, and it has been raining all week:

The pattern drawn out on the shirt. Now, I don't have a daughter to borrow a dress from for a pattern, but I do have dresses of mine that my momma saved.

So, I used one of my pink easter dresses.

Detached Pocket



Goodbye sleeve...



And, there went the other one.

Close-up of the back, right before I cut the neckline for the dress.

From this photo you can't really tell but, I cut the neckline directly under the two buttons shown in the photo before this.

Side seam sewing :)

Belt loops, which I made from bits of the sleeve.

Attaching the belt loops

As you can see, I kept the pocket. I had plans for it!! I took more fabric from one of the sleeves, folded it in 1/2 and gathered it up, then attached it in a sprial to the pocket.

Ta-da!! It's a flower :D

It's almost finished.

I re-attached the pocket to the front of the dress where I felt a little girl could easily use it for hiding all her dainty little things, like a flower for mommy, or a card for dad.

Then I hand-stiched a button from my sewing box to the center of the flower, making sure not to catch the dress. Turns out, the button I chose was a larger version of the buttons already attached to the shirt.

Close-up of the flower on the pocket.

C'est Fini!!

(This photo was taken by momma later in the evening, hence the color difference.)

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

A cutesy little dress, for a cutesy little girl

I found a tutorial a while back (okay, like WAY back in the Spring) on how to turn a large sized men's shirt into a dress for a little girl. Now, usually I try and at least post the tutorial video if I can, but tonight I am just going to post a link (I'm just THAT tired) : http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/tutorial-shirt-dress.html.

Well actually, the way I did my little dress is from a memory of looking over a few different posts/tutorials on how to do this, when I saw them last... so I just kinda went at it with a general idea of how it worked. I wish I had a little girl sized white belt to add to it in the photo's, but I don't :( I used a Blue & White striped men's shirt that was given to one of my brothers, but ended up being too big for them.

Here is a similar one (I have yet to try, but maybe next week??? Looking forward to a new skirt, hopefully) on how to make a belted woman's skirt, using a similar technique: http://www.craftstylish.com/item/44969/how-to-make-a-belted-skirt-from-a-mens-dress-shirt

More pics to follow :D

--A Victorian Cowgirl

50s style faux bang and ponytail tutorial

Thank you SOO much Casey for having such a wonderful blog!! I found this video VERY helpful, and I tried it the next morning. I also have been applying my make-up w/ a 50's style look (it only added one more step surprisingly.. eye-liner .. go figure it's the one thing I never could get right, until I had a reason to practice daily) and have loved it ever since. Your tutorial on applying it was extremely helpful for a few extra tips as well.

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

The Photo of a Lifetime..

I love this Photographic Panorama taken by one of my friends with his iPhone. Can you say WOW to fantastic technology?! (And this coming from the woman who is not in the slightest technologically inclined...)

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Sharing a Link for a Tutorial

I read an article this morning about the common misconception that girls who stay at home either just sit around twiddling our thumbs while we "wait for our prince charming" or that we only know how to cook and clean. Those are good things to know, by the way, but if I only did that I'd be bored stiff. Anyway, that isn't the purpose of this post so I'll move on.

The author of that post is Emily Rose Brookshire of Simply Vintagegirl. I love all things vintage and beautiful so I just HAD to go visit her site when I saw the name of her blog :)

I found this lovely tutorial for fabric flowers and wanted to share. The post is at http://www.simplyvintagegirl.com/blog/index.php/2010/05/29/tutorial-how-to-make-lovely-fabric-flowers/

I have known how to make different sorts of fabric and ribbon flowers for a while but I never thought of using a tealight to crinkle the flower edges. They remind me of old english roses or peonies (which I love!!). I am making some of these today... how about you?!

-- A Victorian Cowgirl